Trip to Springfield (IL)

Since it has been at least a month since Nate and I packed up our bags and left town, we decided that we would use our wonderful Christmas present from Rick and Sandy and go to Springfield for the weekend. The Devlins had chosen a beautiful bed and breakfast for us (I was most excited about the robes for each of us) and for any of you who watch Gilmore Girls- I felt like I was staying at the Dragonfly Inn!! We were right in downtown Springfield, only a few blocks from the capitol and all the Lincoln historical monuments. I realize that only Nathan and I could enjoy spending the weekend in a little hick town in southern Illinois staring at Lincoln memorabilia but it was SO much fun!
A couple fun stories- on our second day in town we woke up early to go and get a tour of the Governor's mansion and as we were walking there we saw this random man running down the middle of the road, neither of us thought much of it, other than the fact that he ran strangely. Well, then as we were walking back from the tour we saw the same man running down the middle of the road (he actually almost ran us over). But this time we also noticed the guy with the earpiece following him on the bike and the three black SUV's following behind. It was the Governor of Illinois- Rod Blajovich!! We wanted to tell him that we had just been to his house but he seemed a little busy and his secret service seemed a little large (and I didn't really want to get yelled at again after I had just gotten in trouble at the governor's mansion for wandering into the Governor's backyard!) Also, for you church history people, we took the tour of the Lincoln-Herndon law offices and there was a courthouse set up on the second floor, right below the actual office. Well, it turns out that the most famous case to be tried in that courthouse was the trial of Joseph Smith when the Illinois courts were deciding whether to extradite him back to Missouri or not (they eventually found him not guilty and he got to stay in Illinois). But the cool part was that the judge who tried the case thought that there should be women in the courtroom so that no man would stand up and try to kill Joseph in the middle of the trial. So who did he invite to court? Mary Todd Lincoln. And since women rarely traveled alone, it seems only logical that Abraham Lincoln would have escorted her so we think that we stood in the room where Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith met for the first time! We thought that was pretty cool.
So we had a wonderful time seeing the land of Lincoln, Nate is already planning our next trip to South Bend/Kirtland/Palmyra/Niagra Falls/New York City for next summer- we'll see how much of that he wants to do with a nine month old in tow!
Nate outside the Lincoln-Herndon law offices with statues of the Lincoln family
Michele with the famous bust of Lincoln outside his tomb (we rubbed his nose for good luck)
Michele outside the bed and breakfast
Michele (and Lincoln) outside the new Capitol building